Some cities turn to harsh tactics to deal with homeless populations

Jessica Barrett, Vancouver Sun06.19.2013

Harsh tactics to deal with the homeless are surfacing in suburban cities — with both Abbotsford and Port Coquitlam recently using chicken manure to deter homeless camps. Abbotsford police are also accused of aggressively trashing homeless camps, slashing tents and pepper-spraying people’s belongings in a bid to get them to move along.

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Shayne Williams remembers when frustration over visible homelessness reached a boiling point in Surrey.

The city was Canada’s car-theft capital in the early 2000s and growing numbers of homeless people congregating in Surrey parks only added to the feeling the city was crime-ridden and unsafe.

By 2009, municipal employees, fed up with the loitering, spread a thick layer of chicken manure over a vacant lot next to the Front Room homeless drop-in centre.

The manure was removed a couple of days later after a public outcry.

Today Williams regards the “one-off” incident as a turning point in Surrey’s approach to homelessness. Instead of ham-handed attempts to drive away them away, the city put efforts into services and housing initiatives.

But harsh tactics are now surfacing in other suburban cities — with both Abbotsford and Port Coquitlam recently using chicken manure to deter homeless camps. Abbotsford police are also accused of aggressively trashing homeless camps, slashing tents and pepper-spraying people’s belongings in a bid to get them to move along.

That aggression indicates “a level of frustration that municipalities don’t have the resources to deal with (homelessness),” said Trish Garner of the B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition. B.C. has the highest rate of poverty in Canada, yet is one of only two provinces in the country without a poverty-reduction plan, she said. The other is Saskatchewan.

Garner said Vancouver’s high cost of living — even in low-income areas — has sent some homeless people to suburban communities to seek shelter, or just a place to set up camp.

“We’re seeing increasing numbers of homeless people in Surrey and Abbotsford and then the municipalities are left to deal with it,” she said.

Without provincial or federal funding, most cities are incapable of building the type of social and supportive housing needed to eliminate the problem.

Suburban communities also face unique challenges providing outreach to homeless people because of their geography and lack of resources, pointed out Williams.

Surrey has 400 parks but only five permanent shelters run by three organizations to serve the homeless. Vancouver, by comparison, has 17 shelters. As a result, more than half — 225 — of Surrey’s 400 homeless people were unsheltered, according to the 2011 Metro Vancouver homeless count. In Vancouver, about 10 per cent — 154 — of the city’s 1,581 homeless people were without shelter.

In Abbotsford the number of homeless declined to 117 in 2011 from 235 in 2008, according to the Fraser Valley Regional District homeless count, but the number has increased in other municipalities, such as Chilliwack, Agassiz-Harrison and Hope.

Ron Van Wyk, director of programs at the Mennonite Central Committee, which conducts the homeless count, said things have improved in Abbotsford since the first count was held in 2004. The community has a shelter run by the Salvation Army and outreach workers with the 5 and 2 Ministries are dedicated to reaching “street-entrenched” people. But there aren’t many places for homeless people to go during the day, he said, noting data gathered in the counts support a need for a 24-hour drop-in centre for men and women that will take them off the street.

“It comes down to resourcing, and so that’s the big issue,” he said. “How do we find the resources to make that possible?”

The recent backlash over the homeless camp is both an expression of frustration and a reminder that the city needs to make a “more concerted effort” to gather those resources.

“We as a community, this is a reminder to us we need to do more work, we need to become more serious about finding a solution to this.”

In Port Coquitlam, which doesn’t have a permanent shelter, the city has been working diligently with outreach workers funded by the province through the Hope for Freedom Society to get people off the street. It has had resounding success, decreasing its homeless population from 200 in 2007 to about 30 this year.

Outreach worker Lisa Batista said Hope for Freedom has found treatment beds for homeless people dealing with addictions, and housing through BC Housing or on Craigslist. The core group remaining, however, are what she calls “hard core street-entrenched” — the group that is hardest to house. And that is presenting a particular challenge to the city as it strives to solve the problem.

It was a member of that remaining group city officials targeted three weeks ago when they spread chicken manure where the man had been camping under a bridge, said Port Coquitlam manager of bylaw services Dan Scoones. The man was not there at the time, nor were his belongings.

Scoones said city staff, though misguided in their procedure, were simply trying to get the man to move away from a camp site near a school. The man had repeatedly told city officials and outreach workers he was committed to living outside.

Scoones said the city is equally committed to providing a bridge for those individuals if and when they decide to make a change. “You never know when someone’s going to have that magic moment when they decide ‘I’m ready to come in.’”

However, in the meantime, they’re no longer welcome to camp in Port Coquitlam. “It’s never going to be OK to camp on city land,” said Scoones.

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